Category Archives: Product Regrets

Received this from the Sephora birthday gift this year (I completely forgot to add it to the last haul of 2017).

This is the Tarteist Lip Paint in the shade Birthday Suit.

I’ve used some terrible liquid lipsticks but boy is this terrible. I love your stuff Tarte! Not to mention, everyone is using the Shape Tape and loving it that it is on my wishlist.

But what in God’s good name was this?

What I like about it:

Cute packaging. Doe foot applicator is soft and rather flexible. Pigmented and comfortable to wear.

What I don’t like:

EVERYTHING ELSE! It is grainy, patchy, it settles into every line and crevice and collects there even with the thinnest, lightest application, moves around too much, grabs onto every dry patch. I don’t mind it being not a formula that doesn’t dry completely down but since it is so bad, it kind of adds to its negatives. A full tube is MYR 95 which isn’t too expensive but, you know me! Nope! BYE!

Let’s just say I am on the HUNT for a makeup sponge that can rival my Stila double ended sponge (review link here). Out of my 8 product regrets post, 2 are of makeup sponges and let’s just add another to the bunch shall we?

It is the Forever 21 makeup brand Love & Beauty and it is mostly beauty tools. I have no idea about their actual makeup product because the local store doesn’t carry them.

They recently ran a, buy 2 get 1 free promotion for the tools. I actually wanted to get the tweezers; the sponge was an impulse purchase, and it is technically free but I still paid for two other products!!!

The sponge! Don’t be fooled by the shiny packaging and the cute colours!

The brand. Pretty packaging isn’t it?

What I liked about it:

It’s pretty.

What I didn’t like:

EVERYTHING ELSE. It is the exact same dud MYR 5 of a sponge I purchased from Mr. DIY (Malaysian version of the dollar store, regrets post link here). Hard as rock and fair warning people, there is a high chance of bruising when bounced of the face. Doesn’t expand when dampened, doesn’t soften either! COMPLETE WASTE OF MY COIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The nice display with the plastic cover masks the softness or lack thereof. Pressing it with the plastic cover on gave me hope! And it was crushed into a million pieces when I took it out!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Two negative posts in a row… 😦 I realised I had this post set up and ready to go before the last one but pushed it forward because I wanted to post the previous, Cathy Doll post up first (link here).

So Silkygirl is perhaps one of the very first mainstream makeup brands in Malaysia that launched a liquid to matte, liquid lipstick. And when it first came out everyone when nuts! And so far I have seen and heard very little complaints about it. However, when I decided to put it to the test I was sorely, SORELY, disappointed…

So, as you can see, it’s a gorgeous shade of red and it dries down to a complete matte finish. See, here’s the problem, one coat is not opaque enough to cover the difference in pigmentation of my upper lip and my lower lip. However, it is a complete mess when it is layered. The second coat makes the first layer move around and then it bunches up and crumbles off. When it was worn on the lips, within the first half hour, there was so much product missing from the inner part of the lips. I did try it with my favourite lipliner but when the lipliner wears off so does the product, so it isn’t so much the lipstick but the lipliner that works.Of course this may just be this particular shade…

Ok, so there’s this brand called Cathy Doll in Guardian in Malaysia and I have been curious of one thing. Their Ice Cream Magic Blender makeup sponge. If you have not used a sponge to blend your makeup you are missing out because it gives your makeup the most amazing and flawless finish!

Moving on, here’s the product.

Looks pretty cool right? And it is really soft too.

Now, what I assumed is that it needs to be dampened. But here’s what happened when dampened.

If you can’t already tell the sponge is completely out of shape. And this is after me positioning it for a few minutes to snap the shot!

See here’s what happens when it is dampened. It looses it’s bounciness! Completely! You can squish it down and it holds its shape for a good 10 to 15 seconds! A sponge shouldn’t do that because it then completely looses its ability to push and spread product on the skin. And although it is soft even before being dampened, it cannot actually do much in its dry state. I paid MYR 20.30 for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT’S A LOT FOR A CHEAPSKATE LIKE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Mr. DIY is the Malaysian equivalent of the dollar store. Everything in Mr. DIY is very VERY affordable and the downside of this is that there are bound to be misses. If you know how and where to look, there are some hidden gems there (I have actually found some, here,here, and here).

Alas, this wasn’t one! 😦

I saw this egg shaped sponge which looked a lot like one of those makeup applicators that can be used by wetting it, squeezing out the water and using it damp.

Let’s take a look at some pictures first shall we?

Looks promising doesn’t it? Can you blame me for taking a chance?

Excuse the little plastic thing at the bottom. Used it to prop the sponge upwards.

Pretty high claims for something that doesn’t work.

Why I didn’t like it;

The appearance is where the similarities with that certain revolutionary yet expensive sponge end. Everything else is completely different. It is so hard that you could actually bruise yourself trying to bounce it off your face. It does not expand and/or become softer with dampening it. It doesn’t help blend powder or cream products. It tugs on the skin. Because it is so hard you cannot manipulate it to fit crevices on the face.

If you feel that you can tolerate all this then, buy it, be my guest!

What’s good about it;

It cost me only MYR 5.30 (I am sore even about this because the same 5.30 can buy me an entire bag of sponges from Daiso).

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I wasn’t joking when I said I have more than one product regret on my list! This next product was a good deal in terms of price. Original price MYR 59, I bought it on sale for MYR 11.80. That should have been the first warning! I bought it from SHINS and I could not find an online website for the brand except the SHINS website. With that being said, I have NO idea what the brand entails but I do trust SHINS and they do sell authentic Real Techniques brushes.

Let’s move on to some pictures of the product first shall we?

Packaging. Comes in a box, how nice.

Descriptions, which I did read before I bought it and in the next picture you’ll see why I actually bought it.

Please take note, waterproof it says.

The product.

It is a duo ended felt tip pen liquid liner. This side has a marker-like tip.

The other side has a fine tip.

With the dual tip, one could draw as thick or as thin a line.

What’s good about it:

The dual tip is handy. It is very black and application is smooth.

Why I didn’t like it:

It is NOT waterproof!!! I’ll prove it in pictures below. Even when it is removed, it leaves a stain that is IMPOSSIBLE to remove! There are also specs of glitter in the liner which I do not like.

Water test; there you go!

The stain. Mind you, this was removed with washing my hands with soap, wiped with cleansing water AND petroleum jelly with PRESSURE!!! Harsh pressure!!! The black stain from the liner that ran down my hand is more prominent.

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First of all, I used a plain white background for my pictures in this post. I loved using the blue background, however, the colour can reflect on products with shiny surface causing it to appear a different colour. Do leave me suggestions if you have any ideas (I’d prefer not to use anything ‘pretty’). If you are reading this via Facebook you can comment on the post leaving me your suggestions.

Moving on, Essence is one of the most affordable makeup brand at the drugstores in Malaysia and certainly one of my most favourite (it made the list of my top 5 most affordable drugstore makeup in Malaysia, link here). However, no brand is devoid of duds.

I don’t know if this product is limited edition but it is the Essence Lipstain from the Vampire’s Love collection. There are two available shades, and I have 02, True Love (yes, I see you rolling your eyes like I am)!

The product.

Love that font!

Description on the back of the tube.

Comes with a doe-foot applicator.

Swatch pictures.

Swatch.

This was my attempt at blending it out after perhaps 10 seconds (i.e. swatched, the lid screwed back on and 3 or 4 seconds after that); one of the reasons I didn’t like it.

What’s good about it:

Gorgeous colour!

Why I didn’t like it:

Unless you blend it out within seconds of applying, it WILL be difficult to blend (as in picture above)! Unless blended out the very next second after it was applied it would leave a clear patch of the initial swatch. If you are using your finger to blend it on the lips your finger will absorb most of the colour. It smells sweet but with a chemical tinge which I do not enjoy. I could not even remotely work this out which is why this is on my product regret list instead of a review.

Additional notes:

I may use this for some kinda special effects makeup because it really does look like blood. I am really into the special effects makeup brought about my addiction to YouTube channels like GlamnGore (link here) and ellimacs special sfx makeup (link here).

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Although I usually refrain from using makeup from Daiso (except perhaps eyelash curlers and false eyelashes) I have, in the past (due to encouragement from the media) bought makeup from Daiso.

This is a product that I regret, not because it didn’t work, but because the product was not the correct shade.

This is the product; an eyebrow pencil. It’s double ended, meaning there’s a spoolie attached to one side.

The spoolie.

The product. It does seem dark enough to work.

A swatch. Notice how grey it is.

Notice how my eyebrows look grey. It actually looks worse in person.

What’s good about it:

It is a stiff eyebrow pen that is good for filling the eyebrows. The spoolie is helpful.

Why I didn’t like it:

The colour and that’s basically my only problem. I personally don’t think I’d buy and regularly use makeup from a place that everything is sold at MYR 5.30, however, this is absolutely your discretion.

Additional notes:

At MYR 5 (when I bought it) it didn’t seem like it would be that much of a disappointment since I did use it for a competition in the past. I have spoken about this particular competition and I have never really elaborated on it. It was a competition hosted by Colours Cosmetics Malaysia whereby the requirement was to do an eye look using the hand as a canvas. I was given a bunch of makeup products as gift for entering the competition and I have mentioned some of these products in my posts here, here, and here. I will attach a picture of the look I did below. So I guess, that MYR 5 spent on the eyebrow pen wasn’t wasted.

Yes, I cut up strip false eyelash and glued it down in parts one by one. The eyebrow pen was used at the tail end of the eyebrow to give it an ombre, faded out look.